Tickets for President Obama's town hall released

By
Matt Porter

August 21, 2013Updated Aug 22, 2013 at 12:19 AM EST

Vestal, NY (WBNG Binghamton) Surprise, joy and curiosity were all emotions felt by Binghamton University students, faculty and staff who collected tickets for President Barack Obama's town hall style-meeting on Friday.

The ticket holders were selected Wednesday afternoon after entering an online lottery.

Each ticket ensures one person admission to the event, and it must match the name of the person who entered the lottery.

Tickets cannot be sold or given away.

Ethan Feilic, a senior at BU, said he was completely surprised when he found out he had the chance to see the president speak.

"Well it's incredibly exciting, you come back to school and you expect to get books," Feilic said. "You don't expect to see the leader of the free world. It's funny, it's shocking, it still hasn't really donned on me what I'm going to witness."

Alexandra Harris, a junior, said she doesn't know what she might ask if she has the chance, but is excited to hear his answers.

"I just want to hear what he's going to say to students," Harris said, What kind of rhetoric he's going to use. It's going to be interesting to see."

The president's speech is expected to take place sometime after the noon hour. Doors will be open to ticket holders beginning at 10:30am.

The president is expected to give a short speech and open the rest of the town hall to questions.

He will answer questions at random. They will not be preselected or prepared, according to the White House.

The president will be speaking in the Mandela Room at the University Union.